


Memory

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Jopper, Joyce needs a hug, Sad Joyce Byers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jim Hopper had become what she had feared the most. A memory.
Relationships: Joyce Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Memory

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song: My Immortal by Evanescence

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕,  
𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅  
𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔  
𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆  
\----------- 

Joyce bit her lip and looked the cabin up and down as if she was waiting for him to burst out the door with a long winded story on how he’d escaped the explosion. She shifted the weight of the box onto one arm using the other to to search for the key in her pocket.

_”You’re giving me the key to your house?”  
  
_

_“Well,” He rubbed the back of her neck almost sheepishly, “I was just- your the only one I’d trust to look after El. You know, if anything ever happened to me.”  
  
_

She fumbled for the key hole pushing the door with her shoulder once she heard the click. It creaked open slowly hitting the wall with a small bang.

Joyce breathed out shakily at the damage, sure the kids had warned her but still. Seeing it made it seem much too real and him ever living here much too fake. 

She kicked the door closed with her foot and then settled the box on his worn out couch.   
  


_“Hey.”_

_Hopper gazed up at her his face decorated with the cuts and bruises that bastard had given him.  
_

_”Joyce.” She would be lying if she said she hadn’t been worrying herself to death for the last three hours that he wasn’t going to wake up. Now as he said her name she was feeling a mixture of relief and anxiety, because how would she have gone on knowing she never hear him say her name like that again?_

  
She rubbed her cheek and let her hand stay there, she could see him standing there. His clothes battered, his singed hair framing his bloody face but he was smiling. A smile that she hadn’t seen before. She thinks it was his way or comforting her, telling her that it was okay. Of course it wasn’t. Nothing about _that_ was okay. Joyce closed her eyes tightly ridding herself from the image before walking into his room.

It felt a little invasive going into _his_ room, she had no permission or right to be here but yet here she was. Joyce pushed the curtain open and walked in, it was a little smaller than she’d imagined but that just made it cozy. Joyce bit the inside of her cheek picturing what it would be like to wake up in his room, the sunlight lighting the room hazily, birds tweeting as she cuddled up to Hopper.   
  


Joyce crossed the room and opened his bottom draw, files and papers she smiled at the birth certificate at the top of the pile. 

_  
Joyce opened the door to a grinning Hopper, unable to stop fidgeting, “Hopper what are you-“_

_“I’m a dad!” He smiled widely, Joyce finding it hard to imagine a time she’d seen him happier, he held up the certificate inches away from her face,_

_“Joyce I’m a dad again!”  
_

She rustled through the next draw stopping when she saw a corner of a photograph. Joyce pulled at the edge and flipped it around curiously.

_  
Hopper watched the slow rising of her chest as they lay next to each other on the grass just after the end of the school day. Her hair surrounded her like a halo, his very own angel. She had her eyes trained on the clouds above her, not noticing Hopper pull out his Polaroid Camera.  
  
_

_“Joyce?” He called to get her attention.  
  
_

_She turned to him smiling, replying in a faint hum, Hopper snapped the picture making Joyce roll her eyes dramatically a grin on her face._

_“What was that for?” She asked.  
  
_

_“You’re too beautiful to waste a photo on.” he took the picture out of the camera and began to shake it. Joyce pinched his arm jokingly before linking her hand through his, “Joyce?”_

_”Yeah?” She turned on one side to face him.  
  
_

_“Do you think you’re ever going to forget about me?” Hopper croaked his face falling, a spark of desperation in his voice.  
  
_

_“I’m not going to ever forget you Jim Hopper.”_   
  


Joyce rubbed her eyes and placed the photo next to her.

She pushed the draw closed and sat with her back pressed uncomfortably against it, she didn’t care for comfort anymore. It wasn’t like she deserved the luxury anyway. Joyce hadn’t realised how much of a hole he had filled in her life until now. It was left deep inside of her empty.

He would know what to say right now to make everything better, he would know exactly what to do. But of course he wasn’t here to do so. 

Joyce could feel her chest tightening, her heart only growing in size. She breathed out slowly and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. At least Hopper’s destroyers cabin held a little extra comfort than being locked in her bathroom while the kids eat their dinner.

She was scared, so scared of forgetting him. Forgetting what his voice sounded like, forgetting how it felt when he was there next to her an arm around her, pressing a kiss onto her head. And what would happen if she did?

Jim Hopper had become what she had feared the most. A memory.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn’t the best but I was just in the mood to write about Joyce missing Hop


End file.
